The Sky Blues were in their prime just last week when the cruised past FC Basel 4-0 in the first leg of their round of 16 matches against the Swiss club. With the stunning win, City was anticipated to decimate Wigan Athletic who continue to make their way up to the top in the third tier league in English football. However, the City fans were in for a shock when the underdogs fired late and registered a historic win against the Sky Blues ending their hopes of winning a quadruple of trophies this season.
The 79th-minute stunner that silenced City fans
City was off the blocks in a flash when the referee signaled the start of the game at the DW Stadium, the home ground for Wigan Athletic. The City offense wasted no time in announcing their arrival in Wigan's backyard pressing towards the home team's goal in the starting minutes of the game with Sergio Aguero and Ilkay Gundogan coming close. However, the home team's resolute defense showed no signs of letting the City striker slip pass them. On the other hand, the home team showed great intent and gave the City defense a run for their money with Natan Byrne and Will Grigg spearheading the attack but eventually failing to break the deadlock.
From then on, the game never looked one-sided as both the teams continued to test each other's defense but lacked the clinical finish to go one up in the knock-out game. The match was headed towards half-time with City in the driving seat in the dying minutes of the first half before Fabian Delph was sent off in a controversial decision made by Anthony Taylor reducing City down to 10 men.
The second half saw the Sky Blues make some defensive changes to cushion them from the impact of losing Delph. However, the loss of Delph did not stop City from attacking as they continued to press forward with substitute Kevin De Bruyne doing everything in his power to get his team a lead. The attacks eventually proved futile when the Wigan defense stood their ground boldly denying City.
Wigan finally got hold of the ball in the 79th minute when City's right-back Kyle Walker was caught napping and failed to stop a straying pass which ended at Will Grigg's feet. Grigg showed great perseverance and pace to stay away from Walker and made enough space to fire the ball in the right corner. Claudio Bravo's attempt to stop the ball proved futile as the ball whirled into the net making the stadium erupt with celebrations. City then tried everything in their power to score an equalizer but Wigan's solid defense proved impenetrable and the home team entered the last eight of the competition.
The aftermath of City's loss
With the victory, Wigan completed a hat-trick of wins over City breaking the Sky Blues dominant run in the season so far.
The home crowd flooded the pitch to congratulate their players on the big victory but the scenes soon turned ugly when Aguero got into a fight with one of the fans who had run onto the pitch. Meanwhile, the scenes enraged the traveling City fans who attacked the policemen on the ground who were trying to contain the elated fans. Nonetheless, the win ended City's hopes of winning a quadruple of titles and the underdogs yet again overcame the mighty.